Israel briefed US on plan to evacuate Palestinians from Rafah: Report
Unnamed US officials told The Associated Press news agency that Israel briefed Biden administration officials this week on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The officials said the plan detailed by the Israelis did not change the US administration’s view that moving forward with an operation in Rafah would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians at risk.
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his concerns regarding the operation, saying “we have not yet seen a plan that gives us confidence that civilians can be effectively protected”.
Regional and members of the international community have also voiced their opposition to Israel’s plans to invade Rafah, which has become the last refuge for Palestinians displaced by the war.
Israel says ‘around 100,000’ will be evacuated from eastern Rafah
A spokesman for the Israeli military told journalists it is evacuating “around 100,000 people” from eastern Rafah, ahead of an expected ground assault there.
The international community has warned Israel that a military operation in Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering, would be “catastrophic”.
Israeli designated evacuation zones are ‘not safe’ for Palestinians
- This evacuation order follows what seems to be the failure of ceasefire talks in Cairo, and the insistence of the Israeli prime minister on expanding the ground invasion into Rafah city.
It also comes in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, and an intense Israeli response, in which they carried out 11 air raids, targeting areas in the eastern parts of Rafah city.
And this seems to be the targeted area now.
Local residents of the eastern parts of Rafah city have been ordered by the Israeli military to evacuate sharply and immediately to the western part, to the evacuation zone al-Mawasi, an area has previously been designated by the Israeli military as a safe zone.
Now it’s important to point out that so far all the evacuation zones designated by the Israeli military have not been safe for the displaced families. In fact, these areas have been constantly under attack, whether in western Khan Younis or here in Rafah, where 1.5 million people are sheltering.
It is also worth pointing out that in the last couple of days, people have started moving on their own volition, because of the lack of progress in the ceasefire talks. They have started packing their stuff up and started moving, but not necessarily to the evacuation zone, because of their mistrust in believing the Israeli narrative.
Israeli military drops leaflets over Rafah warning of impending operations
The Israeli military has begun dropping red leaflets on the eastern areas of Rafah, telling Palestinians to flee to al-Mawasi, claiming that the displacement will be “temporary”.
The leaflets state: “To all of the residents and those currently sheltering in the Rafah Camp, the Brazil Camp and the neighbourhoods of Al-Shabura and Al-Zohour. Remaining in these areas puts your lives in danger.”
The leaflets also warn that the Israeli military “is about to operate with force against the terror organizations in the area you currently reside”, adding that anyone in the area puts themselves and their family members in danger.
The Israeli military has regularly dropped leaflets over the Gaza Strip warning of impending attacks and information about so-called safe zones. However, its actions on the ground have often contradicted the information provided.
In December, Palestinians in Gaza, with limited electricity and internet, were not able to access
evacuation details available via a QR code on leaflets dropped by the Israeli army.
‘The start of a nightmarish scenario’
Samah Hadid, spokeswoman for the Norwegian Refugee Council, says Israel’s evacuation order is “completely problematic, inhumane and unsafe”.
“The al-Mawasi where people are being ordered to evacuate to is not equipped to accommodate” more internally displaced people as it already hosts hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, Hadid told Al Jazeera.
“It does not have enough humanitarian assistance and services to support additional displaced population,” she said.
Hadid called the evacuation order “the start of a nightmare scenario for the people of Rafah who have been terrified for months now over what it is to come”.
She said aid agencies “are also terrified” because a Rafah offensive would lead to the collapse of the aid response.
“It’s really reliant on the Rafah hub to distribute aid to organise aid throughout that area,” Hadid added.
Rafah offensive to ‘cause mass atrocities, mass civilian deaths’
We have some more comments from Samah Hadid on Israel’s evacuation order to the people sheltering in eastern Rafah.
The Norwegian Refugee Council spokesperson told Al Jazeera the conditions at al-Mawasi are “woefully inadequate”.
“It does not have the basic infrastructure in place to service and support the current displaced population, let alone the additional group of people moving towards there,” Hadid said.
She added that more than one million people now have to face further displacement and death.
“We have been warning that a military offensive in Rafah would cause mass atrocities, it would cause mass civilian deaths,” Hadid said, calling on the international community and Israel’s allies “to put a stop to this”.
“Right now, we need every ally of the Israeli government, including the US government, to increase its pressure, stop the arms sales, put pressure on Israel to put a stop to this offensive which would lead to mass atrocities.”
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